Private consultants are taking control of how public universities are evaluated and run. My submission to the Senate university governance inquiry raises concerns about the impact of Nous Group and their dodgy UniForum data on our universities. www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor... A thread

The amount of shit I got for this segment at the time was astronomical, and it was all from people who now stalk CVS employees to get them fired for insufficient online sadness. Cheering on political violence is both evil and not new, an outgrowth of an internet intentionally dismantled years ago.

The Washington Post is a disgrace. You cannot stop ideas by firing the people who speak them. You can, however, temporarily hide them from yourself.

Assassination with no limits - me on Israel’s shocking bombing of Qatar. I’m old enough to remember Israel trying to assassinate Khaled Mishal in Amman a few years after signing a peace treaty with Jordan so I’m not THAT shocked. But this is big, and bad. abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/assassinatio...

President Trump has just announced that Princeton University PhD student Elizabeth Tsurkov who was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023 and held by Kata'ib Hezbollah has been released and is now at the American Embassy in Iraq.

On #FirstView - "Digital Authoritarianism and the Global Technology Industry: Evidence from #Iran" - t.co/rvTrjmucvi by @daraconduit.bsky.social

GR2P has an exciting double special issue on #Syria coming up, guest edited by @daraconduit.bsky.social from Uni of Melbourne and Yasmine Nahlawi from Dar Justice. It features Syrian authors and practitioners. Rread the introduction online at lnkd.in/gqvR6j6d @degruyterbrill.bsky.social

In the current geopolitical and higher ed context, the publication of this special forum on "technologies of armed violence" is very dear to my heart: academic.oup.com/isagsq/issue... /1

Here's @marquelawyers.bsky.social. 'The craven crushing of campus dissent' The path towards fascism looks like this.

The last day on which a majority of the Supreme Court’s justices had been appointed by Democratic presidents was May 14, 1969. One of the things we do in the legal academy is support our claims with facts.

Just finished up at RightsCon. The human rights world is absolutely reeling from the senseless cruelty of the Musk/Trump regime, but it was also extremely good to be reminded that there’s a lot of brilliant people around the world who refuse to bow down to dictators, whatever the odds.

The ARC Board has proposed a major shake-up of the National Competitive Grants Program ▶️ www.arc.gov.au/engage-us/co... I've only skimmed so far, but they propose reducing 13 grant schemes to 6, with intent & scope in the table👇 Submissions are being accepted in response until 13 April. Get to it!

On the one hand, the world desperately wants Syria to succeed, the war to end, and refugees to return. On the other hand: "The humanitarian response for Syria is significantly underfunded, having secured less than 10 per cent of the $1.2 billion needed through March." reliefweb.int/report/syria...

Australian Researchers, If you want to support @arc-tracker.bsky.social being awarded a Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science, sign this letter of support. forms.gle/WxfVjk9JaGpn... Q: "Are they eligible?", A: "Let's find out" Sign, repost & send the link to colleagues. Word of mouth. Do it!

New on #FirstView - "Digital Authoritarianism and the Global Technology Industry: Evidence from Iran" - tinyurl.com/5pmra43b by @daraconduit.bsky.social

What happened in Syria will have reverberations across the region. As the 2019 uprisings reminded us, the Syrian people remind us once again; these kleptocratic repressive regimes are often hollow & despised by many of their own agents. Their fragility is regularly underestimated.

"Despite incredibly difficult days with increasing pain and medical complications, Emma retained her identity as an active scholar, supervisor, colleague and friend. This was Emma’s commitment to us, and to a better, more peaceful, more empathetic & thoughtful world" polsis.uq.edu.au/article/2024...

Very shocked to read about the disbanding of all humanities & social science funded research by the Marsden Fund in NZ (their ARC/ESRC equivalent) www.beehive.govt.nz/release/mars...

Given fears that there may be new chemical attacks in Syria, here's a thread on some of the chemical munitions used in the past by the Syrian government. First, there's been two primary agents use, chlorine gas, and sarin, each associated with specific munitions.

Hey @benleruth.bsky.social, I’m getting some bearers replaced at our place this week. Do you want the old ones? 😱

#Syria: as the rebels retake land that was lost to them 5 to 9 years ago they find portraits of the regimes and their leaders which have been occupying the region in the meantime. Of course those portraits don't stay long.

Today (online): 2024 BRISMES Annual Lecture "Witness to Genocide - In Conversation with Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah" Friday 29 November, 18:00-19:30 GMT. Event free & open to all, but registration required: brismes.ac.uk/events/annua... @nicolapratt.bsky.social

Just a reminder that the deadline for the attached call for papers for the Propaganda Forum in Critical Studies in Media Communication is December 13! This issue is coordinated by me and @emmalbriant.bsky.social . Check out the CFP here docs.google.com/document/d/e...

PLEASE SHARE: New PhD scholarship opportunity to work with me on my ARC-funded project examining how states and societies in Asia and the Pacific are responding to the emerging Cold War between the US and China. Details on how to apply are in the link. study.uq.edu.au/study-option...

Deleting twitter felt fine in the end but it’s hard to overstate how much it mattered in allowing me to make a career. It feels so silly to say.

Starter pack for those working on misinfo, disinfo, information integrity, digital authoritarianism, propaganda etc. Definitely a work in progress, reply if you want to be added! go.bsky.app/V4Po9wB

ABC News - Academic says Australian spy agency asked her to report on Chinese students: amp.abc.net.au/article/1046...

BlueSky Starter Pack on Irish Politics and Political Science I have compiled an initial list of researchers and journalists working on Irish politics, as well as Irish political scientists abroad and political scientists based in Ireland. Who’s missing? 👋 ➡️ bsky.app/starter-pack...